Page One: Inside The New York Times. Where does our news come from and where is it going?

The advantage of reviewing films a while after they come out is hindsight. Looking at this film/documentary several years after the filming first commenced (in 2009), and over a year since its release, allows the ideas, the problems and the frustrations of The New York Times to be witnessed in a much more illuminating manner. The nerves, the evolution and the frustration of reporters that are fighting to make real news matter is hypnotising, especially in times like this.

The documentary covers subjects that we may have already forgotten about, or at the very least have become accustomed to. Do you remember there was a time when Wikileaks wasn't talked about? When Julian Assange wasn't accused of rape? When tablet computers were not around? We are not a world that questions anymore, we are a world that does not have time to question; we are a world that only has time to accept answers to questions we had not thought to ask. We rely on the apparent expertise of others so we can go and look at pictures of puppies, kittens and Justin Bieber and still feel informed. It shows how the blogosphere of apparently alternative news is reliant on traditional reporting to feed opinions and material. This is honestly one of the few documentaries that I would appreciate a sequel to, not only to witness the continuing heroics of reporters such as David Carr, but to specifically to see their reactions to the Kony 2012 debacle.

To wake up one morning and suddenly find everyone had made up their mind about the a single person via a viral ad, and within a few hours to find most of the information debunked, was a wonderful and scary experience. It exposed how reliant we are on the assumption of truth in this quickly moving enviroment that we call the modern world, and how quickly we can be galvanised in to believing the urgency of a questionable cause. In a world that is hungry for information and opinions, it shows how important real world reporters that work at The New York Times are. It also shows how difficult it can be to find the balance between honest reporting and commercial reporting. As I write this the top three shared news items on the BBC news website are 'Embarassing Parents and the Teenage Truth,' 'Schools to put focus on grammer' and 'Penguin sex upsets explorer.' Are these the most important stories of the day or are they the most easily digestable and commercial? If twitter is an exhibition of how we can democratise information and news, then we truly have to take responsibility of what news we pay attention to and what information we place emphasis on.Would you prefer opinions or facts? Adverts or articles? Entertainment or illumination? There is a choice to be made and only you can make it.